An award-winning former Scout leader has been found guilty of abusing four children over two decades.

David Burland, 54, a former Scout leader in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, was convicted of 18 charges of indecent assault with a boy under 16, nine charges of sexually assaulting boys under 16, three counts of sexually assaulting a girl under 16, two counts of indecency with a child and one count of indecent exposure.

Twenty-two of the charges relate to one victim, who suffered for up to six years.

Burland, of Ramsay Way, Burnham-on-Sea, was suspended by the Scout Association when the allegations surfaced but denied the charges, saying the youngsters had conspired against him.

The former Royal Navy chef even claimed he was on a warship in the Arctic Circle when one of the offences took place.

But the father was caught out as he sexually assaulted a girl, now 17, who had previously confided in an adult that she was concerned about Burland’s behaviour towards her.

Prosecutor Ian Fenny told the jury of eight women and four men that Burland was a sexual predator who manipulated his victims and abused his victims at his home, on camping trips, on holidays and at Scout huts.

“Of course there came the moment when he made one mistake that let the cat out of the bag,” he said. “It was perhaps careless, perhaps arrogant.

“He abused a young girl in a way that worried and disturbed her. She confided in a lady ... it was on one occasion in the presence of this lady that the defendant actually touched his victim in a wholly inappropriate way.

“That allowed her to say to this woman, ‘did you see what he did to me?’ She said, ‘yes. I did’.

“It was after this that investigations began.”

Taunton Crown Court was told that once the police inquiry started other victims came forward.

Mr Fenny told the court Burland had used beer and pornography to convince the boys to engage in sexual activity with him.

He would then threaten them by saying he would tell people they were gay – instilling a concern about their own sexuality – if they told anyone about his abuse.

Burland, described as someone who had been seen as a family man who devoted his time to the Scout movement, will be sentenced on February 10.

Detective Constable Mark Fudge, from Avon and Somerset police, said of the victims: “I applaud them all for the strength it must have taken to come forward.”

The Scout Association confirmed his expulsion from the movement, saying: “Burland was suspended from any form of contact with the movement as soon as police began their investigations and he has not been involved with the movement since his arrest.

“The movement carries out stringent vetting of all adults and requires them to work to a strict code of practice.”